Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with photo

Scavenger Hunt ideas for 13-14 year olds.

JimmyJames — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:54:15 -0800

I'm building a photo scavenger hunt for teens ages 13-14. Creative suggestions needed. We're a co-ed camp of 13-14 year olds at Stanford University. Our previous scavenger hunt consisted of "Go to X and do Y". These were fun but resulted in a bit of a uniform death march with pictures that didn't really challenge the kids.

I'm planning on having each picture be worth between 1-5 points depending on difficulty. A 1 point question could be take a picture of a group member with silly hair and a 5 point question could be "take a picture of your group reencacting the Gettysburg address complete with costumes.

Any and all legal, safe, sane and creative photo suggestions are appreciated. Also, if you have any suggestions on how to score, regulate or otherwise streamline the whole scavenger hunt I'd love you forever.
Thanks in advance,
JJ

SLRockin

tmcw — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:08:26 -0800

My roommate's looking for a $4-600 SLR + Lens combo. That's pretty much it. He doesn't have any lenses that are worth porting over, so no influence on brand in that area. I have a Canon, though, and some good lenses, so I might lend one to him if he gets something similar. He shoots mostly daylight city, events, type of stuff: not as much landscape or low-light, but I'm sure he'll cover the range. I'm not sure what to go with at this particular time (with the seeming explosion of prosumer cams), but there must be something good to get at this price point?

Thanks for any info!

Suspicious lens-fu.

mindsound — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:02:51 -0800

There's a photograph of a Persian gold finial resting on a highly patterned cloth on p. 56 of the August 2008 National Geographic (directions to find it online inside). The finial is in tack-sharp focus with significant depth of field while the entire cloth is pleasantly blurred. Shenanigans? I would love to know how this photo was taken. It's the tenth photo in this annoying Flash presentation of Simon Norfolk's photos. If you page forward once using the >| button it's the first photo on that page.

I'm kind of hoping that the composition is due to ninja lens technique, but it really looks photoshopped to me since the finial's shadow is almost in focus while cloth details intersecting the shadow boundary are much more blurred. Can any 5th dan photographers comment?

How do I make a photo collage?

mcarthey — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:33:45 -0800

How can I make a photo collage out of a collection of words and/or photos? I'm interested in building something similar to this out of my own collection of words and/or photos. It'd be best if I could automate this process by typing in my own sentences and providing my photos. I'm hoping this process could be automated instead of having to cut up a bunch of photos.

Where can I find this guestbook design?

irishkitten — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:11:41 -0800

Help me find a specific guest book and accessories for our wedding! My googling is failing me. I'm trying to find this guestbook and the matching photo album/frame. All I've been able to find out is the manufacturer, which is apparently Splash, but after digging through pages and pages of guestbooks, I'm running out of keyword ideas(and time!)

Another shot of the rest of the set here. Thanks, MeFi. :)

Old West photo in the SF Bay Area?

rafter — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:40:49 -0800

Where could we get a kitschy, Old-West-themed group shot taken in the Bay Area next week? The more elaborate, the better. Something just like this would be perfect. Also this. We are five adults, if that matters. Locations in San Francisco proper or the East Bay would be tops.

Public Domain Photos

hamster — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:23:37 -0800

I'd like to find some public domain photos for a book proposal on urban sprawl and smart growth. I'm helping my professors with a book proposal for my graduate assistantship and have been tasked with finding high resolution photos. They must be in the public domain and should be examples of either urban sprawl or smart growth. Where should I start looking?

Thanks for your help!

When can a terrible driver's license photo be a serious issue?

Ian.I.Am — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:58:21 -0800

Are there any situations where having a ridiculous driver's licence photo will be more than a laugh? (Or: How I Learned to Abandon my Ego and Self-Image.) I just finished taking a course in Michigan to get my motorcycle endorsement. Once I completed my riding test this morning, I thought I'd go immediately to a nearby Secretary of State's office to take the written test and get my official endorsement.

Idiotic me, I didn't think about the fact that I'd be getting a new license altogether; hence, a new photo. By the time we'd gotten to that point, there didn't seem any turning back. The SoS CSR wasn't the most helpful, and was noticeably unfriendly.

Long story short, I ended up with a license photo that literally looks like I've either never bathed or have serious drug issues. I don't mind a laughable license photo, but this looks like I've just left rehab, unsuccessfully.

This is my primary means of photo ID. Are there any situations when this will present a problem? I'm about to be a senior in college (architecture) and will soon be on the job hunt.

Remember a photo of Pink Floyd in Kew Gardens?

electric_counterpoint — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:19:55 -0800

What Pink Floyd album cover (or liner) does this image come from? My dad just visited me in London, and recalled a certain image from a Pink Floyd album when he toured Kew Gardens. We eventually hunted down the photo I linked, but he doesn't think it's the shot he remembers. The one he's looking for was also posed in front of the Victorian greenhouse, but from a wider angle, showing the band from a distance.

He thought it might have come from the montage on A Nice Pair, but I can't find a scan of the gatefold (or liner notes; I'm not sure how it was originally packaged). I'd be happy to have the album confirmed, but even happier if anyone can point me to a scan online.

Identify this photo

quantum eclecticist — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:13:43 -0800

Does anyone know who the photographer is, or which series this photo is from? I'm convinced it has to be part of a larger work, there are just too many perfect things going on with this photo: Socks with sandals, cat with a surgery cone, pinch-rolled jeans, the stuffed animals, mustache, prize ribbons, et cetera. I saved a copy of the photo (100866825_5c7f268348.jpg) ages ago from flickr, but when I do a filename search on it now comes up as a private photo - so no luck tracking down who posted it there. I found the above remiq.net URL for this image through tineye.com but I'm getting 0 results with any regular image searches. Thanks!

Where can I get cool photos of the numbers 1-20 around New York?

paul_smatatoes — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:38:19 -0800

NYC Wedding Filter: The future Ms. Smatatoes thinks numbered tables for our wedding would be too boring, but the current Mr. Smatatoes doesn't want cutesy names (ie, "Tribeca", "Red Hook"), either. So our compromise is getting nice photographs of numbers from around the city- ie, a shot of the front of a 1 train for table #1, and so on. Here's the question: what are some good, creative places to get a cool shot of the numbers 1-20 around NYC?

Rapist Search

king walnut — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:52:43 -0800

Is this photo real? I can only find it on funny pic sites, so probably not I guess, but I wonder if anyone knows for sure. I checked snopes and a few other places.

Can you help me find the photo that got away?

Sheppagus — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:44:13 -0800

Can you help me track down the photo I didn't take in the Disneyland area? (Description of the photo may be NSFW depending on where you work.) Around the first of May I was driving up Walnut St. in Anaheim and directly across from Disneyland was boarded up convenience store. The sign said $express, which we of course turned into an entire weekend of Sexpress jokes. Sadly, I left CA without taking a photo of this magnificent store.

I went back last weekend and intended to photograph the Sexpress only to learn that it has been torn down. So now I don't have my Sexpress sign and feel like my photo album will have a big Sexpress shaped hole in it.

I can't be the only one to vist Disneyland and giggle like an adolescent at the Sexpress, but I haven't had any luck tracking down someone else's photo of the Sexpress sign.

Does anyone have a picture of the Sexpress? Do you have any suggestions on how to track one down? What kind of world do we live in where a Sexpress across the street from Disneyland goes out of business?

Thanks in advance for any help!

How would you show off 400+ photos?

oreonax — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:59:34 -0800

Seeking large capacity photo albums in Portland, Oregon! I just got about 400 photos from my wedding that happened in 2004. I'd like to put them into a photo album, but where on earth (in Portland, OR, specifically) do I find an attractive photo album that can handle roughly 400 pictures?

I'll be going through it and culling the less-than-preferred ones which will go in a box but I'd like the rest to have some kind of display...

Looking for Fun Camera or Computer Projects during a Cross Country Drive

hworth — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:55:38 -0800

I'm looking for instructions, guides, or suggestions of something fun to do with my camera or laptop during an upcoming cross-country drive. In a week and a half I'll be driving from St. Louis to Southern California. I have a MacBook with OS X Tiger and a Canon Powershot SD 750. I have 5 2gb memory cards for the camera.

I wanted to do something fun with the camera or isight while on the road. Rigging up the laptop on my front seat to shoot a time-lapse video from the isight seems like the easiest option, but I'm wondering if anyone has any more interesting/complicated suggestions.

I would be happy to invest the time to learn any sort of program or skills with the camera or computer, but not looking to spend more than 50 bucks for any additional supplies. If anyone has any links to cool projects online, I'd be happy to copy someone's cool idea with my own trip as opposed to doing something original.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to set up my laptop on my passenger seat to keep it safe and secure? I'd hate to slam on the brakes and have it smash into the dashboard.

Photo scan spots

maxg94 — Mon, 26 May 2008 18:19:34 -0800

Why does my photo scanner show images with "white flecks" all over them? I am working on a slideshow and need to scan older photos in order to incorporate them. I had an ancient Epson flatbed that worked great for over 10 years, but decided to get a new 3 in 1 scan, copy, print machine. I bought a HP Photosmart 4280. Even though I have cleaned the glass and the prints, every time I scan it looks like it is snowing in the picture with lots of white dots everywhere.

Sadly, I can't return it as I had it too long before I actually tried the scanner part (dumb!). I spent several hours with a tech on the phone with no results. He promised to send a new one but then disconnected me.

Is there anything anyone knows that could be causing this? Obviously I can try with HP again, but thought I would see what you all have to say.

DVD Slideshow recommendations?

osloheart — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:51:53 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good DVD Slideshow software download? I have about ONE MEEEELION photos that I need to burn onto DVDs. I want to make some slideshows with background music, and I have tried a few that basically sucked. The problem always seems to be: when I go to add music onto the movie, it just plain doesnt work. I think its something to do with iTunes music, it will not use it, but thats the only place I have music, on iTunes.... anyway, I need some help..

Thanks!!

Program to analyze image

querty — Sun, 25 May 2008 21:20:27 -0800

Looking for a program that will take an image as the input and gives back a chart/graph/number with the amount of colours as the output. Is there such software that will do this? Need a program as such for web design so that the dominate colour of an image can be used as the background-color.

How to handle media upload when traveling far and light?

XiBe — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:09:12 -0800

My little brother will in a few months embark in a year-long trip around Asia (India, Vietnam, Thailand...), towards Australia as final destination. He asks me to set up a blog for him - easy does it, I'm a WordPress translator. But what about media? And in general, what should I not forgot to make sure we get the best from his experience while not making it hard for him to communicate? See, he'll be traveling light (so no laptop) and potentially deep in unknown territories, where there's little chance he'll cross any Internet cafe, let alone a computer with broadband - I might be wrong, of course, but I'm speaking with the experience of a friend who works at a resort in Laos valley, and he has limited (monthly) bandwidth at his workplace.

So, while it's gonna be easy for him to update said blog with text, media are another matter, and I have a few advices to ask for.
- How should he handle his files? With limited bandwidth, he cannot upload full size image, but he cannot edit them down either to take as few Mb as possible. Likewise, I don't want him to take pictures at minimal resolution just for this reason, since he'll certainly want to get them full size and on paper once he gets back home.
- He'll be carrying more than one X Gb cards for his camera, but those will run out quickly if he cannot dump them from time to time. I know there are dedicated card-dumping portable HDs these days, but I hear they're not reliable. Anyone has experience on this?
- Any tips on a light, good and sturdy camera, with standards cards that he can buy over there by the dozen?
- Videos are bound to be made, but weight way more than pictures. Should he avoid making them?
- More generally, what should I setup for him to ease the message transmission between his faraway land and the whole family back home? - again, with as little bandwidth use on his side as possible. Should I use my own server for hosting, or rely for instance on Flickr and it's (I suppose) many CDNs in the region?

Lastly, what are the cool traveler/around-the-world blog that you know?

Software/instructions to make a photo/music slideshow?

jcdill — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:08:40 -0800

Recommendations and instructions for easy-to-use Mac software to make a 5-minute slideshow / video (with music) of 100+ photos. I need to vary the time of some of the photos - Lightroom isn't sufficient for this task. I us a MacBook Pro. I have Lightroom and use it extensively for managing my digital photo library. For this project I need a slideshow with more control. I need to be able to vary the time the slides are shown - some will be shown with longer intervals (4-5 seconds per image), some will be shown more quickly (1-2 seconds per image). I also want to choreograph the images with music. And ultimately, I need to run this from another computer that doesn't have Lightroom. When you expert a slideshow from Lightroom, it doesn't export with music.

It tried Garage Band, but was endlessly frustrated by the difficulty I had in getting each image to start at the right time, end and the right time, and segue easily to the next image. I don't have 40 hours to spend on this 5-minute slideshow project!

What I'm hoping for is some way to add a group of photos all in one step - with a standard interval and segue between them, and then be able to easily adjust the start time of each image to match the music. Is there any software that can easily do this?

I have the CS3 Suite, but was equally frustrated trying to use Premiere for this. Maybe I just don't have enough experience with it. If this can be easily done in Premiere, I'd love some instructions on how to accomplish that!

Thanks!

Help my pretty up my house!

antifuse — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:21:29 -0800

Where can I get large prints of digital photos done online? (Or locally in Toronto) I'm looking to print up some of my digital photos extra-big for my new house. I've already got the enlarging handled (Genuine Fractals is AWESOME), and I've got the frames, but now I'm looking for a place to print them out!

Basically, I'm looking to print out some pretty big images, that don't seem to be covered by your average online printing shops. One image I'm looking to print is 22"x28", and the other is 11 3/4" x 36". I tried a couple different online shops, and they all seem to max out at 20x30.

Obviously, I'm looking for high quality prints, but if it's an online shop it needs to ship to Canada, otherwise someplace in the GTA (Toronto) area would work either.

Where to embiggen?

Constant Reader — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:43:36 -0800

Seeking reliable internet service to enlarge an image to poster size. I would like to enlarge one of my boyfriend's favorite images so that it's poster-sized or at least hang-up-on-the-wall-sized. I used an online company a few years ago that I found via magazine (either Real Simple or Bust). The site was easy to use, not so expensive and quick on delivery. I, of course, cannot remember the name of the company. I'm looking for recommendations of a reliable online service to enlarge an image. Thanks.

Who shot this dog?

raz5 — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:04:38 -0800

Help me figure out who took this wonderful photo of a dog gazing out onto an open field! Back in the Fall of '96, I clipped this photo out of a magazine (I don't remember what magazine) for a random art class. The photo was taped to my wall for many years in college, and I've only recently found it again in my house. This photo means a lot to me, and I'd love to find out who took it and how I might be able to purchase a print.

Anybody recognize it? I know it's a long shot, but if anybody can figure it out, it's you guys. Thanks!

Help me identify mystery man.

bigcheesegump — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:18:04 -0800

Help me identify the man in this photo. After my previous question I decided to proceed with John Wayne as an avenue for my final thesis. I am presenting it in the next few weeks and have been scouring the internet for visuals. I came across this image and I cannot figure out who the man in the middle is for the life of me. He looks incredibly familiar and this is going to irritate me. Either he is someone notable that I am blanking on or he is a nobody.

Do you know where this is?

nuala — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:04:28 -0800

Does anyone recognize this photo? It looks like a cemetary to me but I can't identify which one. See here. I've been searching to no avail for some time. Any ideas? I'm looking for the location and name.